                              PowerPage v1.32
                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                            by Richard Fairhurst

                         (c) 1992  Robot PD Library


                              Utility programs
                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As well as the main PowerPage  program,  this  disc also contains a number of 
extra support utilities for PowerPage. This  file explains what the utilities 
are for and how to use them.


1. TEXT EDITOR

If you don't have a word-processor  or  other  text  editor, then you can use 
this one to prepare text for import into PowerPage. After loading it from the 
menu, you will be given a disc catalogue. If you want to load a file and edit 
it, then type in its name and press ENTER - otherwise just press ENTER.

A list of keys will come up. Press any  key and you will be ready to edit the 
text. You can move the cursor around  the  document with the cursor keys, use 
the DEL and ENTER keys in the normal way, insert new lines by pressing CTRL-I 
and delete lines by pressing CTRL-D. If  you want to insert an embedded style 
code (for example, to toggle bold on or off), use CTRL-X. So, for example, if 
you wanted the sentence "This program  is  a really amazing utility" with the 
word "amazing" in bold, underlined text, you would type:

This program is a really [CTRL-X]B[CTRL-X]Uamazing[CTRL-X]B[CTRL-X]U utility
                         ^                ^       ^                ^
                         bold and underline       and toggle them off
                         toggle on

When you press CTRL-X, a bullet-style  symbol  will appear on the screen. The 
available codes are B, U, T  and  I  (bold,  underline, thin and italics) and 
they should all be prefixed with CTRL-X.

To save the file, press  CTRL-S.  A  catalogue  will  appear  and you will be 
prompted for the filename to save. To load in a new file (or start again from 
scratch), CTRL-L will return you to the beginning.

2. TEXT CONVERSION

If you prefer to use your own  word-processor  or text editor, you might find 
that it does not let you use CTRL-X (CHR$(24)) characters for PowerPage style 
codes. With this program, that's no problem.

You should first prepare your text file using the word-processor, but instead 
of using CTRL-X for the  style  code,  use  another character unused anywhere 
else in the document  (like  "~",  obtainable  by  pressing  CTRL-2). In this 
example, then, the code to turn bold  on  or  off  would be ~B. When you have 
finished, save it  out  as  an  ASCII  file.  Then  load  the  PowerPage Text 
Conversion utility, enter the name  of  the  file  (note  that the file has a 
maximum of 500 lines) and then enter  the  character you are using instead of 
CTRL-X. The CTRL-X character  will  be  substituted wherever your replacement 
character is met and the file rewritten to disc.

3. FONT EDITOR

With PowerPage you are not limited to only one font on each page: you can use 
as many as you like. This utility  will  help you create them. The program is 
very straightforward to use, as the  keys  are listed on-screen at all times. 
In brief, you edit each character  by  moving  the flashing cursor around and 
pressing COPY to set or reset each pixel. You can move the whole character in 
any direction by pressing SHIFT and the cursor keys, rotate it with R, invert 
with I, or flip in either the x-  or  y-axis  by X or Y. When you have edited 
that character, press ENTER and you can (using cursor keys and copy) select a 
new character from the display in the  middle  of the screen, which is edited 
in the same way.

To save a font, press S and  enter  the  filename. The extension .CHR will be 
added if you do not  provide  one.  Similarly,  to  load  press L and enter a 
filename.  Finally,  to  catalogue  the  disc,   press  C  and  then  a  file 
specification (e.g. *.CHR for all .CHR files).

4. PROCEDURE FOR EDITING LARGE FONTS

We have not supplied a utility to let  you edit the large ".FNT" fonts, as at 
that scale, it is better to use  an  art package. Instead, we have supplied a 
template screen file called "LARGE.SCR".

Boot up your favourite art package and  set  it to MODE 2. (Suitable packages 
include Advanced Art Studio, GPaint and Mode  2 Screen Design - anything that 
saves the screen as a 17k binary file.) Then load the LARGE.SCR template file 
off your PowerPage disc.

A grid will  appear,  each  square  containing  a  character  in the standard 
Amstrad font. (There are brief instructions  at  the  foot of the screen: you 
don't need to remove them).  To  define  your  characters, then, just replace 
each character by its new version. The  fonts  can  be  up to 15 pixels by 15 
pixels in size: however, we would recommend  that  you leave a pixel or two's 
space at the left of each character. You  might find that an art package such 
as GPaint, with its large zoom facility,  is particularly suited to this sort 
of work. (Of course, if your art  package  is well-featured, your job will be 
much easier!)

When you have finished, save the file out onto a disc (in standard 17k binary 
format) and load the GRABBER program off the PowerPage disc (using the menu). 
Enter the filename of the screen to  be  loaded  in, and then the filename of 
the font to be saved (the standard .FNT extension will be added if you do not 
specify one). The font will be converted  from your screen file into the font 
file.

Note that you can also enter a font  description and date (up to a maximum of 
16 characters each). This is  not  necessary  for  PowerPage, but is provided 
purely for Stop Press compatibility purposes.

5. HEADLINE GENERATOR

As well as the standard PowerPage features, we have provided a utility to let 
you create headlines using  two  extra-large  fonts  (from the Mini-PrintShop 
program). The fonts  are  Times Roman and De-Ville. All  you  need  to  do is 
load the Headline Generator and  then  enter  all the  options  required (you 
will be prompted and given  examples).  The  headline  will be shown  and you 
will be asked to confirm that it's ok.  If  it  is,  then  you  can  type  in 
a  filename (without an extension)  and  it  will  be  saved as  a  .CUT file 
ready to load into PowerPage using  the  "Import  Clip Art" option. The Times 
Roman font is on the PowerPage disc, but if you want to use De-Ville you will 
also need a copy of Robot PD collection AMS37 - Mini-Print-Shop Clip Art.

6. MODE 1 TO 2 SCREEN CONVERSION

If you would like to load  a  MODE  1  screen  into PowerPage (using the Load
Picture) option, then running this first will convert the  screen into a MODE
2 file, with ink 1 solid black,  and inks 2 and 3 as striped  patterns (which
are so close together that they  appear  grey).  The original screen is wiped
and replaced with a new one. If you  want to use another disc, just insert it
and press ENTER/RETURN when asked for the filename.

7. MISCELLANEOUS

There  are also  a few  example files  of fonts  and  clip art  on the  disc,
together with a complete example page -  the PowerPage Quick Reference sheet.
It is recommended that you print this out,  as  it  will  prove invaluable to
using the program more easily.


These utilities should prove useful to  PowerPage users. If there is anything 
you would like catered for in PowerPage,  then please write to the address in
the Advanced Instructions - we'll do what we can!

Richard Fairhurst
Robot PD Library
26th September 1991
